Ill prisoner Mehmet Emin Özkan, 83, who is on the list of seriously ill detainees who need to be released from prisons, was taken to the hospital on 2 September after falling ill.

The family said that Özkan, who was detained in Diyarbakır D Type Prison, was taken to Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital and added that he was kept in the intensive care unit for a while before being taken to the ward on Sunday. The family said that they were not informed about their relatives falling ill.

Five heart attacks

Özkan is associated with the 1993 murder of Brigadier General Bahtiyar Aydın in the Lice district of Diyarbakır. Özkan, who has been in prison for 27 years, suffers from various health problems such as high blood pressure, osteoporosis, hearing and vision deficiency and memory loss. Özkan has suffered from 5 heart attacks in prison so far. However, he is not released because of the reports given by the Forensic Medicine Institute (ATK) stating that he could remain in prison, contrary to what the hospital's reports say.